NORTON, Mass. — The Deutsche Bank Championship will usher in Labor Day with a bang as the final stretch features two top golfers bringing generations together. Rory McIlroy has shot 6-under 65 twice so far in the tournament, and has now taken the 36-hole lead. Tiger Woods shot 65 earlier, but fell back to 68, two shots behind the leader. In between was Louis Oosthuizen, a former British Open champion with one of the purest swings in golf.
McIlroy went from one extreme to another on par 5s only 30 minutes apart, but he steadied himself down the stretch on the TPC Boston to set an early target Saturday. No one could catch him in the afternoon, and the two-time major champion wound up at 12-under 130. He had a one-shot lead over Oosthuizen, who had four 2s on his card, including a chip-in on the short par-4 fourth hole, and had a 65.
Ryan Moore had a 68, despite playing the front nine in 1 over, and joined Woods at 10-under 132.
Woods missed out on a chance to be paired with McIlroy on Sunday when he missed the fairway on the par-5 18th, laid up short of the marsh and came up just short of the green and its front hole location. He had to get up-and-down for par.
The TPC Boston is where Woods and Vijay Singh had a memorable battle on Labor Day in 2004, when Singh won to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world. Two years later, Woods closed with a 63 to rally from a three-shot deficit against Singh. And in the first year of the FedExCup in 2007, it was Phil Mickelson who played three rounds with Woods and wound up beating him by two shots.
Woods and McIlroy might be the next one.
“I think if you look at the overall list of champions here, they’re all big hitters,” Woods said in an effort to explain why the Deutsche Bank Championship provides such great theater.